Summary: On this episode, hosts Devin and Lauren delve into the history of Albany County's Rapp Road Community, an African American neighborhood built by southern immigrants who moved north for a better life in the late 1920s. Marker of Focus: Rapp Road Community Historic District, Albany County Guests: Stephanie Woodard, board member of the Rapp Road Historical Association; Dr. Jennifer Lemak, chief curator of the history collection at the New York State Museum, and author of Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany’s Rapp Road Community A New York Minute In History is a production of the New York State Museum, WAMC, and Archivist Media, with support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This episode was produced by Jesse King. Our theme is "Begrudge" by Darby. Further reading: Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany’s Rapp Road Community Jennifer A. Lemak (2008) Black Protest and the Great Migration: A Brief History with DocumentsEric Arnesen (2002) The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners Transformed AmericaJames N. Gregory (2005) Teacher Resources: PBS Teaching Guide: Exploring the Great Migration National Archives- Harry S. Truman Library and Museum: The Great Migration Lesson Plan Stanford University, Stanford History Education Group: Great Migration National Geographic: The Great Migration- Educator Guide Follow Along Devin: Welcome to A New York Minute in History. I'm Devin Lander, the New York state historian. Lauren: And I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County. This episode is focusing on a marker which recognizes the history of a small African American community located within the city of Albany that came into existence as a direct result of the Great Migration. Now, this sign isn't a traditional blue-and-yellow historical marker. It is brown, and has white text on it, and it recognizes the inclusion of this community on the National Register of Historic Places. Located at 28 Rapp Road in the city of Albany, the text reads: “Rapp Road Community Historic District has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 by the United States Department of the Interior. William G. Pomeroy Foundation, 2017.” The marker we're focusing on today is part of a different grant program offered by the Pomeroy Foundation. When a structure or a district receives that designation, there's no allowance of any kind for signage or a plaque, so the Pomeroy Foundation offers a program where you can apply to them for a marker, in order to increase awareness of the historic place. Getting back to the Rapp Road Community Historic District – as far as the location, it's located near Crossgates Mall. So it's near a lot of heavy commercial development today, but that wasn't the case back in the late 1920s and early 1930s, when the community was formed. The houses here have a different look than the rest of the nearby neighborhoods, and the general residential areas around it. So how, Devin, did the Rapp Road community get its start, and where did the founders of this community come from? Devin: The genesis of the story begins in the Deep South. The vast majority of the residents that would go on to live at Rapp Road here in Albany came from a town called Shubuta, Mississippi. Shubuta, Mississippi is located in eastern Mississippi, formerly on the lands of the Choctaw Nation, which were open to settler colonists during the period of Indian removal in the 1830s. Shubuta developed a role as a trading post and market for the surrounding cotton plantations during the antebellum period, and the vast majority of African Americans living in and around the area were enslaved. In 1865, the town of Shubuta was incorporated, and in the post-Civil War years, slavery was replaced with the almost equally oppressive sharecropper system. Racism ruled the day during this era of Jim
